The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic head, in which a multilayer structure comprising a transducing system with electrically conducting connecting tracks and further comprising a head face sensor system with electrically conducting connecting tracks is formed on a substrate, and in which a processing operation is performed for forming a head face, which processing operation is terminated on the basis of measurements performed on the head face sensor system.
Such a method is known from EP-A 0 361 778. In accordance with the known method, a series of thin-film transducing elements each provided with a magnetoresistive element with a collect guide and a return guide are formed on a substrate. Simultaneously with the formation of the transducing elements, electric lapping guides (ELGs) are deposited at the end of the series of transducing elements. Similarly as the collect and return guides of the magnetoresistive elements, the ELGs are connected to a multiplexer. During the formation of a head face, the resistance of the ELGs is first measured for controlling a rough lapping process, and subsequently the resistance of the individual magnetoresistive elements is measured so as to control a fine lapping process for determining the ultimate height of the magnetoresistive elements. In the known magnetic head thus obtained, the magnetoresistive elements therefore adjoin the head face. Such magnetic heads belong to the sensor-in-gap-head type, referred to as SIG heads. The known method is not suitable for manufacturing magnetic heads in which the magnetoresistive element does not adjoin the head face but forms part of a magnetic yoke. These heads are referred to as YMR heads. Another considerable drawback of the known method is that many electric conductors are required for establishing the desired measuring connections, which gives rise to intricate conductor patterns which are difficult to realize from a technological point of view because of the limited available space in thin-film magnetic heads.